Since 2010, a serie of conflicts and disputes arising from some
countries' claims to China's territory in the South China Sea have affected
China's image in Southeast Asia. China's hard-won image as a responsible power
in Southeast Asia has encountered a crisis of trust.
For some Southeast Asian
countries, China is "a partner that needs to be guarded against", and
this mentality is reflected in their approach to strategic and traditional
security issues.
Some countries that have
territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea worry that China's
military modernization and growing nationalist sentiment will enable it to
resolve the disputes by force or threat of force. They therefore deliberately
seek to multilateralize the dispute by involving the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and the United States.
With the US "returning to
Asia" and backing its allies, and Vietnam and the Philippines trying to
portray their claims to China's territory in the South China Sea as a dispute
between China and ASEAN, the South China Sea has become the focus of China's
relations with countries in the region. And with foreign media also riding the
tide and sticking their oars into the troubled waters, China needs to properly
handle the South China Sea disputes and China-ASEAN relations.
There is a wave of public
opinion in China that believes the South China Sea situation is grim, and there
are even some extreme voices calling for the use of force and giving up
cooperation with ASEAN. However, ASEAN appreciates China's strategy of peaceful
development and basically approves of China's principle of "shelving
disputes and seeking joint development" in the South China Sea.
Overall, cooperation is still
the mainstream of China-ASEAN relations, and most ASEAN members have taken a
relatively positive attitude to the rise of China.
Whether the China-ASEAN
relationship can withstand the "test" of the South China Sea disputes
depends on all parties' correctly assessing the regional strategic situation.
The US' strategic shift to Southeast Asia will not undermine the foundation of
China-ASEAN relations, but will help ease some ASEAN countries' concerns and
fears about China's rise.
The "China threat"
promoted by some is one of the main factors restricting the benign development
of China-ASEAN relations, but it cannot fundamentally reverse the overall trend
of fast development of bilateral relations.
In fact, the continual
updating of the China threat theory can be seen as a sign of progress in
relations between China and ASEAN nations, as each time it emerges, China will
fully demostrate its diplomacy in pursuit of good-neighborly relations. China
and ASEAN's ties advance each time they resolve a thorny issue.
Some ASEAN countries lack a
proper understanding of China's intentions and policies and may feel
uncomfortable about China's rapid rise. This results in them vacillating
between viewing China's rise as a threat or an opportunity. Adhering to its
good-neighbor policy will help China finally prove that the threat theory is
groundless. Win-win cooperation has long been the driving force for the
continuous improvement of China-ASEAN relations, and it will continue to be so.
There is no need to
overestimate the US' capacity to get its hook in ASEAN. China also cannot
expect Southeast Asian countries to act against Washington's will. Therefore,
China should continue to ignore the voices calling for the use of force to
settle the disputes. The use of force against Vietnam and the Philippines would
only serve to push the two countries, and probably all ASEAN members into the
arms of the West, leading to China's decades-long diplomatic efforts in
Southeast Asia coming to nothing.
The result is China would not
achieve the desired strategic objectives, instead it would create a surrounding
environment that was antagonistic. In that case, the South China Sea will have
become a "trap" on China's path of peaceful development.
So China should focus its soft
power on three things regarding the South China Sea: it should seek to seize
the moral high ground; seek to increase the trust of neighboring countries, so
that they are confident that China's rise is peaceful; and build up the majesty
of China, none of which should be ignored. In this way the international
community - particularly ASEAN countries - will know that China is committed to
its path of "peaceful development".
The author is a research
scholar at the Institute of South and Southeast Asian Studies, China Institutes
of Contemporary International Relations.
Chu Hao
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